So I posted about this new-to-me pattern a couple weeks ago, and haven’t posted since because I am just too busy making more of them. I’ve made (mumble-mumble, counting on fingers) five? since that first one, and I have another one cut out on the sewing table. Yeah. It’s that kind of dress — so easy to make, and best of all, in the new (shorter) skirt length, it can be made up in just under two yards of fabric, two and a half if it’s 44″ or under. Which means there’s SO MANY pieces of fabric in my stash that were too small for my shirtdress phase that are all jumping up and down shouting “make me! make me!”

Like this one:

This is an old piece of seersucker that I’ve had *forever*. Every couple of years I’d haul it out, thinking “surely there’s enough for THIS project” only to be sadly disappointed — until now.

Likewise this piece of lovely heavy cotton — I think it was bought from the Britex remnant table in a spasm of hope:

Here it is a little closer:

I didn’t do the self-bias trim on this version, since the fabric was so heavy and stiff — this is finished (by machine, even!) with plain ol’ white bias tape.

This dress is great for biking to work; the skirt is easy to pedal in, and being sleeveless, it’s nice and cool on the bike, but I can cover up with a cardigan in the office. And it’s easy to dress down with sneakers, or make fancier with a belt and nicer shoes.

More pictures this week as I wear more of the new versions …

 

So this pattern was stuck in the back of a box and I unearthed it a while back:

It’s a really pretty dress, isn’t it? Although it looks as if pink dress is suffering from unrequited love for Blue Jacket. And the leprechaun version is a bit unusual. But I digress.

I looked at this pattern and thought, “Huh, I bet this would be fast to make, and it would fit.” And lo and behold:

I bought the fabric yonks ago on eBay — it’s cotton satin, and if it weren’t so lightweight, I’d say it was supposed to be upholstery fabric, or that maybe it’s from Ikea. Either way, I don’t care, because it’s really, really pretty.

This dress is definitely going to be made again — I have to make the pockets a little deeper (you can see how they stick out slightly here, with the bulk of my wallet, phone, pocket notebook, lipstick, etc. in them) and the skirt should be about two-three inches shorter. I may even take this hem out and re-do it, this length is a little dowdy. I think this pattern is perfect for Liberty Tana Lawn, especially with a very deep hem to give it some weight, so that’s what I’ll probably try next.

The only tricky part was getting enough bias tape to finish the neck and armholes out of the limited yardage I had — so it’s pieced in several places. Luckily, you can’t really tell. I also had to cheat a bit on the waist of the bodice … those side seams are 1/4″, instead of 5/8″, because I didn’t exactly check what the wearing ease was before I made it. The nice thing about a gathered skirt is that it’s very forgiving of this kind of math error. But this sucker fits pretty closely, now …

The flowers look red in some lights and pink in others, but it’s a true deep raspberry, and (I think) really pretty. The background is a taupe-y gray, so my gray Keds aren’t the best match, but I’m riding my bike in this dress today, and Keds are safer & more comfortable. Skinny belt is from H&M, watch is a silver-taupe Swatch that *does* match (unlike the Keds), and I’m wearing a black leather bracelet (which you can’t really see). I also put a black cotton cardigan on top of this, for work.

I will have an update and the winners of the Book Subtitle Contest early next week … I may be looking for beta readers, too, if you are interested drop me an email! Many eyes make light typos.